IN SEPTEMBER last year, Zenaida Banham took her friend Evelyn Watt for dinner at the Labor Club in Civic. They chatted over a meal and Ms Banham played the pokies. She didn't win anything, but that didn't matter. She was off to the Philippines in a week.
It was the last time MsWatt saw her.
Police in the Philippines found Ms Banham's body on March 8 in her home province of Laguna, four months after the Australian-Filipino dual national was reported missing.
How she died remains a mystery to her friends in Canberra. Ms Watt said MsBanham had travelled to the Philippines to sell a property belonging to her mother, who lives in Sydney.
''Her mum has dementia ... she gave Ada [Ms Banham] power of attorney to fix it all up.''
It is understood Ms Banham had two sisters living in the ACT and four siblings in Sydney. Ms Banham told MsWatt that her brothers and sisters were not talking to her because ''they thought she was being greedy''.
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